Vekoma Rides, the Dutch roller coaster specialist, has announced the company’s most unique thrill coaster development in recent years, which will the first of its kind in the US.
The manufacturer has announced it has been appointed to create Circuit Breaker, an exhilarating and visually striking irst Tilt Coaster 2.0 experience that will appeal to adrenaline junkies and racing fans at Circuit of the Americas in Texas.
Full speed ahead
Circuit of the Americas is a leading US venue for world-class racing and entertainment, located on 1,200 acres in the rolling hills just outside of downtown Austin.
The venue has welcomed some of the biggest names in racing, action sports, and music since 2012. At its centre is a 3.41-mile racetrack designed to test the world’s most demanding athletes while offering an exciting show for spectators.
The key component of the experience, an innovative gigantic seesaw, looms in the distance as the riders slowly rise up the lift hill. After a tension-building turn, passengers arrive at a halt in mid-air at a dead-end track.
The massive track sways, with riders in the front tipping forwards, whilst riders in the back are lifted to a height of 40 metres (131 feet). Following a safely prepared drop, riders are thrown into a spectacular pit of camelbacks, full-speed Zero-G roll airtime, inversions, and bunny hops.
Key stats
Covering a footprint of 102.5 by 81 metres, riders on the 667-metre-long coaster track will hit a peak speed of up to 92 kilometres per hour.
Vekoma is supplying the coaster with two trains, made of 5 cars holding 4 people each, resulting in 20 passengers per train. With both trains in operation, the ride’s theoretical hourly capacity is 1,000 people. Circuit Breaker also comes with a minimum height requirement of 1.2 metres for guests.
“It’s a unique, high-visual-impact ride with thrills unlike any other coaster,” says a Vekoma representative. “With in-house disciplines from sales, R&D, engineering, production and project management to parts and services, Vekoma has gained worldwide recognition with a presence in over 50 countries.”
Vekoma recently unveiled the ride vehicles for Dollywood’s upcoming Big Bear Mountain coaster at IAAPA Expo in Orlando, US.
